I’m not a huge podcast fan, because I can read far faster than I can write. More than a few minutes, and I stop paying attention and wander off in my head.
That means I really like Writing Excuses, because their tagline is “Fifteen minutes long, because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart.”
Don’t let that scare you off. They add plenty to the conversation, in pithy, bite-sized chunks. Which happens to be the perfect amount of time for meal prep. So I’m working my way through the archives, stopping on whatever catches my attention.
Chicken pot pie lending itself to a longer prep time, yesterday I listened to a twofer on deliberate discomfort that was exceptionally thought provoking. It touched on sexism, racism, cultural adaptation to a new land, writing sex scenes, swearing, and the exceptionally uncomfortable experience of writing live while rabid fans watch with foaming – wait, that might not quite have been exactly as described.
Everyone has limits on what they’re comfortable reading. Some history books give me issues – World War II in particular, as it should. After a few memorable episodes, The Guy requested I refrain from binge-reading certain historical time periods. Might’ve been something about whacking him with a pillow at two AM. Might’ve been something about a sleepless wife being exceptionally grumpy.
I still read history regardless, just more slowly and interspersed with neural fluff and brain candy. Urban fantasy, space opera, and the occasional foray into romance buys the squishy wetware inside my skull additional processing time without getting caught in a synaptic downward spiral.
But then there’s being uncomfortable when writing, and the podcasts go into a number of different examples. Research and personal experiences can inform and add realism, but the vast majority of research on other topics doesn’t make it into a story. I’m not writing nonfiction here, so how much is too much before turning off readers?
There’s a book I started a couple years ago, inspired by nightmares and continued by TSA’s special brand of airport fun. When you have 15 hours of travel time, what else to do but start typing? I only work on this tale when I’m in an exceptionally bad mood.
In a moment of serious snark, I even subtitled this tale The Book of Torturing Characters for Fun and Potential Profit.
And that story may never make it into the light of day, because I can’t decide if it crosses a line or bares my soul more than I’m comfortable exposing to the world. Probably both. I put the protagonist through some serious hell, and she’s not the only one in that book.
This world has enough evil in it without adding to it. And yet – without those experiences, the characters are bland and boring, without depth or growth or development.
Looking back, I drew strength from characters in books as a kid, learning lessons from stories without having to experience full pain. There’s value in that, more than I’d ever imagined as a young reader. Stories told well can be a stepping stone to substitute for real experiences, or to have an expectation of what might happen before plunging blindly into the unknown.
As a writer, it’s about knowing your personal redlines, the story that needs to be told, and your characters. These particular characters won’t get to a happy ever after without first experiencing significant pain.
As for sharing it with the world, well. Maybe later.
Check out Writing Excuses‘ podcasts on deliberate discomfort here (part I) and here (part II).
